Ashraf Fayadh (; born 1980 in Saudi Arabia) is an artist and poet[ and organized exhibitions of Saudi art in Europe and Saudi Arabia.
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In November 2015, he was sentenced to death by beheading for apostasy.
Conviction for apostasy
After an argument at a café, Fayadh was detained by religious police in Abha, Saudi Arabia, released on bail, then rearrested and tried in early 2014.
On 17 November 2015, Fayadh was sentenced to death by beheading for apostasy.[ Evidence included several poems within his 2008 book Instructions Within, Twitter posts, and conversations Fayadh had in an Abha coffee shop, in which he was accused of having promoted atheism.][
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In December 2015, Fayadh became Honorary Member of German PEN, combined with a new protest note.
Following the international outcry, Fayadh's death sentence was commuted to eight years in prison and 800 lashes.[ Fayadh was also required to repent through an announcement in official media.]
In January 2017, Fayadh shared the Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression with Malini Subramaniam.
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